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Tuesday, July 14, 2009

10-6 kicks the internet's collective ass(es)

Hopefully by now you've heard that Edge magazine is giving out up to 3 copies of Scribblenauts to 3 very lucky people. The catch? You simply have the help them solve a Scribblenauts level. The real catch? Well, the level is pretty damn hard. You can find all the details right over here.

This is 10-6, and it's probably one of the hardest puzzles we've seen to date. Both Maxwell and the starite are hanging from ropes suspended above some lava. Maxwell can't reach his own rope to cut it (arms are too short), and destroying the cage through most conventional means also means destroying the starite (as in, if you blow up the cage with TNT, there's a good chance the starite will also be blown to pieces...and also Maxwell). As far as we know nobody has been able to solve this level. Edge has been keeping us updated on what does not work, though admittedly they don't tell us what DOES work.

Because people have to tweet their answers to Edge it becomes very easy to track the answers people are submitting. I decided to take a look at a few of these and 'test' the imagination of the internet.

GanonsSpiritJetpack. Put on Maxwell. Chainsaw. Give Maxwell chainsaw. Make him fly up and cut his rope. Fly to box, cut left side open.

This is an approach a lot of people took, and definitely seems the most obvious at first blush. You give Maxwell SOME ability to fly (jetpack, pegasus, etc.), cut your rope, then destroy the cage. However, the way the cage works might hinder some people's strategies. You cannot break open a certain side. Instead, the entire cage breaks at once. It's still possible to catch the starite in midair (at least I suppose), but you'd probably have to be faster than gravity, which might not be so easy.

chaosisoverLiquid Nitrogen... cool lava into stone. Gun to shoot out ropes. Machete to bash open cage. Get star.

Another answer people used: cool the lava off somehow. This solution is definitely dependent on how "gamey" Scribblenauts is. If it's gamey then something like a large amount of water or cold liquid should cool it down. If it's more realistic...well...it'll be quite a bit harder. Edge confirms water doesn't cool the lava, though I wonder how much they used. Either way, this is an interesting approach, if only because is illustrates Scribblenauts quite well.

"Oh no, gamers! There's DEADLY LAVA below you! How do you pass?!"

"Well...get rid of the lava"

"Can...can you do that?"

"It's fucking Scribblenauts."

Now let's hope it's possible ;)

ScribblenautsDSVacuum in maxwells hand to suck up the star after a Beaver chews the cage apart?

From what I can see this idea hasn't been used a whole lot, though it makes a lot of sense. Instead of getting Maxwell to the star this user thought of ways to get the starite to him. Destroy the cage then somehow suck the starite to you via the vacuum before it's destroyed.

Of course this brings up a few questions...will the beaver know what to do? Can the starite even be sucked up like that?

AHomelessHomietry get a grappling hook and grapple the cage closer to maxwell

A variation of the above, instead of bringing Maxwell to the cage you bring the cage to him. You gotta wonder where exactly you can go from there, though. Do you destroy the cage now? Perhaps find some way to get on top of it? Hmm...

robothobo2 CHAINS attached to steel block to hang a NET below the cage, drop TERMITES on the cage, use a FISHING POLE to snag starite.

This last one is my favorite solution out of all of them. It's not overly creative, but it shows a line of thinking Scribblenauts really allows for. How do you stop an item from falling? Well...put a net under it. And that's exactly what this guy wants to do. By catching it before it falls Maxwell can take his time in reaching it, unlike the first example. And what better way to grab it than with a fishing pole? You don't even have to move from your perch! Stylin'

7 comments:

GanonSpiritOpinion: These are the basics on which most people base their solution. Me too.Problem: I doubt Maxwell will be able to catch the Starite, or everyone would've won by now.

ChaosisoverOpinion: Creative, I'll give him that.Problem: Does the game know "Liquid Nitrogen"? You'd probably just get regular nitrogen. Does that have the same properties? Do you spawn enough to cool the lava?

ScribblenautsDSOpinion: Clever thinking. Deals with the problem that the Starite is destructable.Problem: Does the beaver chew the cage from above? Is the suction of the vacuum strong enough?

AHomelessHomieOpinion: ...Okay, you got closer to the cage. Now what?Problem: Now what? You didn't get your hands on the Starite yet.

RobothoboOpinion: Most likely to work. Good thinking.Problem: Will the chains be long enough to hang the net UNDER the cage?

1.- Attach a Jetpack to Maxwell.2.- Fly and cut the rope with something (Sword, Chainsaw, Scissors...)3.- Fly under the Starite's cage.4.- Summon a Meteor over the cage.5.- Grab the Starite while falling.

to the first person who commented in my plan i used some glue to make the cage and me close together then burned the cage with a match(it takes a while to burn when using match according to a vid) then used the same grappling hook(if i am able to still hold it after summoning the match to grapple in the starite when possible